CYNON VALLEY

FFYNNON-Y-GȎG

Ffynnon-y-gôg is the name of a farm in Cefnpennar, near Mountain Ash. The name has been translated as ‘cuckoo’s well’. Indeed the name was ffynnon goge in 1600, and one could be excused for thinking that it had the same meaning, but unfortunately that is not the case.

The forms of tir y Fynon Goeg 1570 and tire y ffynon goig 1666 show that the final element is Welsh coeg ‘empty’ which is seen in its dialectic form cog in ffynon goge 1600. We, in the south of Wales, pronounce coed ascôd, coes côs, troed trôd, etc. Coeg ‘empty’ was understandably confused with côg ‘cuckoo’, which lead to an erroneous ‘cuckoo’s well’ translation at the expense of a more accurate ‘empty well’.

The opposite has happened to Bargod/Bargoed, a town and river-name in the Rhymni valley, where bargod ‘edge, boundary; eaves’, has been ‘corrected’ to Bargoed on the false assumption that the second part of the name was Welsh coed in its dialectic form of côd.

Bargod Rhymni was the name of the stream that marked the border between land in Brithdir and land in Senghennydd uwch Caeach. Today we use bargod for the eaves of a house.

Y Ffynnon goeg and Bargod therefore would be the correct written forms of the two names in question. Ffynnon y gôg and Bargoed are the products of miscorrections and misunderstandings.

GWYROSYDD

The name Gwyrosydd is well known to everyone in the Cynon Valley as the bardic name of Daniel James who penned ‘Nid wy’n gofyn bywyd moethus’ sung to the tune ‘Calon Lân’. Although he was raised in Treboeth, Swansea, he’d lived in Mountain Ash ( or his ‘Mount’) for twenty years towards the end of his days. This is his verse in praise of ‘Mount’ that he wrote 1903 :

‘Mae y Mount yn em i mi – ei hudol

Goedydd sy’n deml tlysni.

Paradwys yn priodi

Yw ei dawn a’m henaid i.’

[Mount is a gem to me – her enchanting

Woods are temples of beauty.

A paradise in weddlock with my soul,

that’s her magic.]

What of his barsdic name? Is Gwyrosydd a place-name or does it have another significance? His first bardic name was ‘Dafydd Mynyddbach’ (after Mynyddbach near Treboeth) but by 1879 he had changed it to ‘Gwyrosydd’ on the recommendation of ‘Dafydd Morganwg’ the bardic name of eisteddfod goer and historian David Watkin Jones, the author of ‘Hanes Morganwg’ and ‘Yr Ysgol Farddol’.

The reason for the change of name is a mystery, and ‘Gwyrosydd’, Dafydd Morganwg’s choice, is equally secretive regarding source and meaning. The only glimmer of light regarding location is that Dafydd Morganwg used the name ‘Caer Gwyrosydd’ for Oystermouth Castle (Castell Ystumllwynarth) in ‘Hanes Morganwg’ (1870), p. 438. In a book named ‘The Cambrian Journal’ (1854) p. 130, it is said that Urien Rheged’s court was located in ‘’Caer Gwyrosydd or Ystum Llwynarth’’.

It would seem therefore that the name ‘Gwyrosydd’ would be most acceptable to Daniel James – perhaps much more historic and prestigeous than ‘Dafydd Mynyddbach’.

What does Gwyrosydd mean? The Welsh noun ‘gwyros’ denotes the plant known as ‘privets’ in English. Is it possible that the privets were the groves (llwyn) of Ystum llwyn arth?

Having spent twenty years in ‘Mount’ Gwyrosydd returned to his birth place, where in 1919 he passed away. ‘Ysgol Gynradd Gwyrosydd’, and ‘Heol Gwyrosydd’, Treboeth are named after the bard from Treboeth. But it must be remembered that he spent twenty happy years here in the Cynon Valley, fifteen of which working in one of Nixon’s coal mines, and the final five years, as a gravedigger in Mountain Ash.

PANT CEFN Y FFORDD

This is the present name of the farm at the side of the back road between Penderyn and Rugos, just below Penderyn church. The name appears very suited to the farm's location, in a dingle (pant) at the back of the road (cefn y ffordd). But the 1840 Tithe Map has Pantycynferth as the farm's name, which makes the last element (cynferth) problematic. Luckily, earlier forms recorded as Pantcyfnerth in 1796 and Tir Pwll Kyfnerth in 1553, identify cyfnerth rather than cynferth as the last element

Over the years cyfnerth became cynferth by metathesis, ie. with the letters ‘f' and ‘n' changing place. The same process occurred in Dynfant previously Dyfnant (deep valley), Llynfi previously Llyfni and Llynfell previously Llyfnell (llyfn ‘smooth' describes the river flow). But what of cyfnerth?

One can see the word nerth ‘strength' in cyfnerth, and GPC (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru) has cyfnerth as a masc. noun ‘help, aid, strength, support....' etc. and an adjective ‘strong, firm...; assisting, supporting'. Therefore Pant cyfnerth could be a ‘supporting hollow' and Pwll cyfnerth a ‘supporting pool'.

But the Melville Richards Archive at Bangor contains many examples from the Middle Ages of Cyfnerth as a personal name eg. Tir Ievan ap Cyfnerth, Tyddyn Cyfnerth etc. Also, one of the famous law books attributed to Hywel Dda is named Llyfr Cyfnerth (Cyfnerth's book). It is possible then that Pant Cyfnerth and Pwll Cyfnerth were the properties of a person named Cyfnerth.

To summarise, Pwll Cyfnerth was at Pant Cyfnerth which through metathesis became Pant cynferth. When the significance of the earlier name was was lost, Pantcefnyffordd was substituted in order to rationalise the name and give it a meaning.

The photo is of Pwll Cyfnerth, taken in April 2014 at Pant cefn y ffordd.

tafolos,-ws, is the old collective form of the noun tafol,-tafolos. Tafolws is prob.local pron. The present day plural form is tafol with tafolen as the fem. sing. cf. pebyll old sing.form with pebyllau as plural. Today pabell is the sing. form and pebyll the plural. also cf. plantos(little children [Anwyl]), gwrageddos (gossips, silly women [Anwyl]).

Similar place-names with the old collective suffix '-os' are:-

Gwernos (alders) eg. the Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil;

Trebanos (pan = cotton grass);

Bedwos (birches) eg. Bedwas, Caerffili;

Grugos (heathers), Y Rugos;

Helygos (willows) eg. Lygos, Clydach, Cwm Tawe;

Gwastad Onnos (ash trees),etc.

Field names in the Cynon valley with plant elements in the 1844 TS were:-

The early recorded forms of the place-name contain the two elements pen and deryn, dialect form of aderyn, with or without the definite article. The original meaning was 'bird's head',or 'the bird's head'.Some writers on toponymy believe that the name refers to a bird-like topographical feature such as Moel Penderyn (see photo above).Others think that it was totemistic in nature, marking a boundary line or a meeting place, with religious and tribal significances. The late Bedwyr Lewis Jones in an article on Pentyrch in the Western Mail wrote (translated):-

'Many centuries ago, the people of a district or hundred would assemble in one particular place in order to hold meetings in the open air. In those meetings it was the custom to place the head of an animal on a pole - as a totem pole. It seems most likely that a boar's head on a pole would mark the early meeting place for each of the four Pentyrch('s) or Bentyrch('s) in Wales'. Pentyrch contains the two elements 'pen' {head} and 'tyrch', genitive form of 'twrch' {boar} giving ‘boar's head’.

Pen Hydd (stag), Penychen (ox) Pen yr Afr (goat), Pen yr Hwrdd (ram), and Pen March (stallion) fall into the same totemistic category of place-names as Pentyrch, and Penderyn. It seems likely that Penderyn, the name for the totemistic tribal meeting place or territory, was adopted as the name of the parish and later for the name of the settlement which grew around the Penderyn parish church, (dedicated to St.Cynog). Penderyn, ‘bird’s head’ For a more detailed account, see'Cynon Valley Place-Names', pages 76-78.

Is it possible that the topographical feature influenced the choice of totem?

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(Y) R U G O S (RHIGOS, RICOS)

The late Dr Melville Richards deeply regretted having suggested the spelling 'Y Rhigos' in Rhestr o Enwau Lleoedd/A Gazetteer of Welsh Place-Names,and strongly advocated 'Y Rugos'. He accepted 'Ricos' as the local dialect pronounciation. see his article on 'Y Rugos' (Iaith a Llen.8-9).

Welsh. 'y' + 'grugos',['grug(heather) + -os', mutated to 'y rugos' local dial.pron.'ricos'] the place of heather; the heath. Rhydgroes is to be ignored as it is merely an effort at 'correcting' the name. Cefn Rhigos(rugos) means the ridge of the place of heather. Rhigos Halt refers to the old railway line.

Many Welsh place-names follow this pattern of having the name of a tree or type of vegetation plus the old collective suffix -os.

eg.Y Wernos,gwernos(alder);

Onnos(ash),eg. Yr Onnos, Ystradfellte;

rhedynos (fern);

helygos (willow). cf. Lygos, Cwm Tawe;

bedwos (birch). cf. Bedwas;

panos (cotton grass). cf. Trebanos, Cwm Tawe;

tafol(docks). cf Gelli Dafolos (dial.dafolws), Penderyn;

dreinos (brambles). cf. Ton Drunoss, Plymouth Surveys. etc.

MR. identifies other places in Wales with grugos as a place-name element.eg.

Welsh. Llan + Gwynno. Llan = (parish) church. Gwynno = pers. name.(saint). Gwynno's church. There are over six hundred and thirty llan place-names in Wales, yet Llanwynno is the only example of a llan place-name in the Cynon valley. The word llan has an interesting etymology."As both English and Welsh emanate from the Indo-European languages that spread from the north of India and across Europe,there is a close relationship between the Welsh word llan and the English land. In Welsh,the original meaning of llan was 'an enclosed piece of land',and this is seen today in such words as gwinllan (vinyard), perllan (orchard) and corlan (sheep pen). Very soon however,the word was used for 'an enclosed cemetery', then for the church inside the cemetery and finally for the land served by that church and its vicar,(ie.) - the parish. Very often llan was followed by the name of the patron saint of the parish or the founder of the church - such as Llangadog, Llanfwrog, Llanbedr or Llandeilo." Tomos Roberts. Ditectif Geiriau.Western Mail.(trans.) Gwynno is the patron saint of Llanwynno and is said to be one of the three patron saints of Llantrisant (along with Illtyd and Tyfodwg ) as well as being one of the five saints of Llanpumsaint ( Gwyn, Gwynno, Gwynoro, Celynin and Ceitho ).He is also eponymous with Maenor Gwynno (the parish of Vaynor )near Merthyr Tydfil. pron. llan('ll' as in Llanelli) win oh. llanwinno. Sp. Llanwynno. Literal meaning:- Gwynno's church. for similar entries see 'Cynon Valley Place-names'.--------------------------------------------------

Located in Scales Row, Cwmbach, Aberdare, the Scales Arms (1) bears the name of the Scales family.Scalys in the 1851 GFHS Census seems to be a scribal error for Scales. In the 1851 census, the publican is named Timothy Theophilus, age 56, born Llanfair, Carms. His eldest son is William Theophilus age 22, coal miner, born Aberdare parish. The 1881 LDS Census does not name the public house, but 1 Scales Row has William Theophilus, publican age 54, born Cwmbach. It seems likely that the eldest son has continued his father’s business. In 1901 and 1910 the public house is recorded as Scale Arms, the proprietors are William James and William Owen Jones respectively.Another Scales Arms, Trecynon is listed in OA Vol 2. p125.

SCALES HOUSES and New Scales Houses

Scales Houses 1995 MSP;Scales Buildings (1-12) 1851 Census GFHS;

Located in Llwydcoed, Scales Buildings/Houses were named after the Scale family. (2) The brothers George and John Scale of Hansworth, Staffs were first of the Cynon Valley Scales lineage. They came to Llwydcoed in 1800 and built blast furnaces there. Scales buildings are numbered from 1 to 12 in the 1851 Census.The New Scales Houses were built c1914 on the site of the earlier Scales Houses. The New Scales Houses were also known as the ‘Belgian Houses’ as they accommodated refugees from that country at the onset of the First World War. (3)

SCALES ROW

Scales Row 1919 OS 25”; 1995 MSP;Scale Row 1881 Census LDS;

Located on New Cardiff Road, Cwmbach, this row of houses is again named after the Scale family.(4) They are numbered from 1 to 10 in the 1881 census, but today (2002), they are reduced to three in number. As well as being owners of the Aberdare Ironworks at Llwydcoed and the Abernant Ironworks, the Scales were also at one time, part owners of the Aberdare Canal Co. In the1930s the disused Aberdare Canal (1812-1900) was filled in and transformed into a new road.(5) Cardiff New Road evolved as part of this transformation. Scales Row, once on the canal bank, is now on the side of the ‘new’ road.

It seems likely that Scales Row took its name from its proximity to the Scales Arms and that the public house bore the name of the Scale family.----------------------------------------------1. See D. L. Davies, Background Notes to “Gardd Aberdar” in Old Aberdare Vol. 2.2. Cynon Valley in the Age of Iron, Raymond Grant p. 17. “ ‘Scales Houses’ were named after the ironmasters who built them, ”.3. Aberdare Pictures From The Past, Volume 2, ph. 60. 4. Confirmed by local historian Tom Evans, Ynyslas, Abernant5. The Aberdare Canal and Associated Tramroads by Tom Evans in Environmental Studies in the Cynon Valley.

Bryn Pica is currently the name of Amgen’s Community Recycling Centre and Landfill Site, previously the location of an open-cast coal site. Before industrial activity, Bryn Pica was the name of a hill near Ffynnon Cornel-y-garn on Aberdare Mountain.

Bryn = a hill

Pica is from English ‘pike’ meaning a peak, a beacon; tapering, conical.

The name of the landowning family was Roberts, (see Gadlys Ychaf, 1844) and as the settlement was built on the land of Gadlys Uchaf, it took the name of the landowning family, and became Robertstown.

"The Roberts family of Gadlys-uchaf gave their name to the settlement developed on their land in mid century, Robertstown. The Gadlys-uchaf farmhouse stood behind Park Grove,Trecynon and towards Meirion Street;"

Background Notes to 'Gardd Aberdar'.(93).

James Lewis Roberts was born in 1810,and like his father before him (Lewis Roberts,1783-1844) became a doctor. He was also a magistrate,chairman of the Aberdare Board of Health as well as having business interests. He died in August 1864 (Aberdare Times, 20/8/1864 ed.) and lies in the family vault, inscribed with 'The Roberts's of Gadlys',in St.John's churchyard, Aberdare.

Tresalem, the name used by the Welsh-speaking community for the settlement comprises tre, (town/settlement) and Salem, ( Hebraic word for peace )the name of the chapel erected there in 1841.) cf. Caersalem & Jerusalem.

For further details see The Masters of the Coalfield,by Michael Eyers.

Mountain Ash and Aberpennar are the English and Welsh names for the town situated on the banks of the River Cynon approximately half way between Aberdare and Abercynon.The early town was known solely as Mountain Ash, taking the name of the inn around which it developed. The inn was so named (c1809), as it was located close to a rowan tree, also called the mountain ash. The landowner, John Bruce Pryce, an English speaker, chose the English name for the tree rather than the Welsh cerdinen. The settlement grew dramatically with the advent of the coal industry and the sinking of Deep and Lower Duffryn(sic) pits in 1850.

Dafydd Watkin Jones although writing in Welsh, uses the English Mountain Ash as the town’s name in his Hanes Morgannwg (1874) while Glanffrwd (William Thomas) in his history of Llanwynno (1878-88) complains that the town does not have a Welsh name.It was not until 1905 that the situation was remedied. In that year the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales visited the town and the name of Aberpennar was adopted as its worthy Welsh appellation.Aberpennar was the old name for the land and mansion later known as Dyffryn [Aber Pennar alias Tire y dyffryn (1632-3)], and home to the Bruce family since 1750, including Henry Austin Bruce, Lord Aberdare. A new mansion was built in 1870 which was adapted in 1926 to become Mountain Ash Grammar School. This building was demolished in 1986 and Mountain Ash Comprehensive School/Ysgol Gyfun Aberpennar now occupies the site.

Aberpennarcontains two place-name elements aber and the stream name Pennar. The stream was named after the mountain of its source c.f. Cefnpennar. Pen and arth (<garth),[aber pennarthe (1570)] translate as ‘high hill’. The Pennar stream flows into the River Cynon at Aberpennar.

The town of Mountain Ash grew and developed on the other side of the river, but the old Aberpennar estate name took a leap southwards and lives on, as today’s Welsh name for the town, thanks to the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales’s visit in 1905.

For further details see ‘Place-names in Glamorgan’, Gwynedd O. Pierce.